


Ooh, You're My Best Friend

by LiGi



Series: Camelove 2021 [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Always By Your Side, Best Friends, Camelove2021, Cute Will, Ealdor, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pre-Canon, Pre-Season/Series 01, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, old man simmonds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:26:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29400498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiGi/pseuds/LiGi
Summary: “That was brilliant!” Will crowed, dropping the basket he had snagged and clutching his ribs as he laughed.“My mum would have my hide if she knew I was using my magic for silly jokes,” Merlin complained, but he was laughing just as hard as Will, not really concerned about his mum’s ire at the moment.“Not silly jokes. Excellent jokes!” Will bumped his shoulder into Merlin’s. “Stupid old bugger deserved it for chasing us with that broom yesterday.”“True. That was rather uncalled for. We didn’t even pinch anything.”“Only because you knocked over the bloody chair. I would’ve had that bottle of ale if you hadn’t brought him running with all the noise.”“Well it really hurt my shin.” Merlin rubbed his bruised shin now to prove the point.“Yeah, that’s why you didn’t run away fast enough.”“I couldn’t run; I was in agony!” Merlin protested, staggering about it mock pain. It would have been a much more convincing if he hadn’t also been pouting and giggling.Some sweet and funny Merlin/Will antics written for Camelove 2021 and Will Appreciation Fest.
Relationships: Merlin/Will (Merlin)
Series: Camelove 2021 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150931
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Camelove 2021





	Ooh, You're My Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'You're My Best Friend' by Queen.
> 
> I've been meaning to write the lovely Prince William of Ealdor ever since December when I found out about Will Appreciation fest, but I never had time! I love writing him though, he is so sweet, when he's not being grumpy!

Old man Simmonds reached for the log that had toppled off the chopping block, but just as his fingers brushed it, it rolled away. He sighed and stepped forward, bending down again to pick it up. It rolled away again.

Grumbling, he followed the log as it continued to roll across the grass. He wouldn’t have thought that the field was steep enough for the log to have kept rolling so far, but nevertheless, on it rolled. Several times he bent to pick it up but each time he did so it seemed to roll faster. Muttering swear words under his breath he leapt forward and put a foot on it, holding it in place with his sturdy boot.

And then it jerked out from under his foot, sending him tumbling over backwards onto his arse, his feet flying up in the air.

He was so busy cursing the air blue that he didn’t spot the two teenage boys stumbling away into the trees, with their hands pressed over their mouths as they tried not to laugh.

“That was brilliant!” Will crowed, dropping the basket he had snagged and clutching his ribs as he laughed.

“My mum would have my hide if she knew I was using my magic for silly jokes,” Merlin complained, but he was laughing just as hard as Will, not really concerned about his mum’s ire at the moment.

“Not silly jokes. Excellent jokes!” Will bumped his shoulder into Merlin’s. “Stupid old bugger deserved it for chasing us with that broom yesterday.”

“True. That was rather uncalled for. We didn’t even pinch anything.”

“Only because you knocked over the bloody chair. I would’ve had that bottle of ale if you hadn’t brought him running with all the noise.”

“Well it really hurt my shin.” Merlin rubbed his bruised shin now to prove the point.

“Yeah, that’s why you didn’t run away fast enough.”

“I couldn’t run; I was in agony!” Merlin protested, staggering about it mock pain. It would have been a much more convincing if he hadn’t also been pouting and giggling.

Will pushed him over. Merlin fell with a yelp, all his gangly limbs flailing. One hand caught the front of Will’s tunic as he fell and dragged Will down too. They landed in a heap, Will lying across Merlin’s chest, their legs twisted. Will’s face was buried in Merlin’s blue neckerchief, giving him a hit of Merlin’s sweet, slightly sweaty scent.

Merlin wriggled underneath him and Will braced his hands on the ground either side of Merlin’s head and pushed himself up. Not completely off of Merlin, but so he was still just hovering over his best friend.

Something in his stomach squirmed at the position. Normally Merlin was looking down at Will, being a good couple of inches taller than him. And Will relished the change as Merlin now peered up at him, squinting slightly because of the sun behind Will’s head.

“I could easily push you off, you know,” Merlin said confidently, lifting his hands to Will’s chest, pressing his warm palms flat against Will’s thin tunic.

“Yeah?” Will’s voice wavered just the tiniest bit as he fought to keep himself under control. One of Merlin’s thumbs was rubbing back and forth over his sternum.

“Mmhmm.” Merlin nodded. His eyes flicked down to his own hands on Will’s chest then back up to meet Will’s. There was something behind Merlin’s gaze that Will couldn’t quite determine. Almost a challenge.

He licked his lips, and leant a little closer to Merlin’s face.

“With strength or magic?” he whispered.

There was a gentle shove to his chest. Not enough to actually push him away but unlike anything he’d ever felt before. It came from Merlin’s hands, but it wasn’t the force of muscles or strength pushing at him. Merlin’s hands, wrists and arms didn’t move in the slightest.

His eyes seared golden and bright, like molten gold had flooded his irises. Will couldn’t help staring. He’d seen Merlin’s eyes changing colour with his magic before, of course he had, Merlin had been doing it for almost as long as they’d been friends.

But he’d never been this close before. He’d never noticed the way the gold seemed to overtake the blue from deep within, like it was rising up from underwater.

He lifted one hand to the side of Merlin’s face, his fingertips tracing the corner of his eye ever so gently.

Merlin smiled, squeezing his eyes shut and tilting his head into Will’s hand, his face flushing and his ears turning red.

“Merlin… I –” Will started.

When Merlin opened his eyes they were back to blue, his pupils wide as he stared up at Will. He had that look in his eyes again and Will bit his lip. He let his own gaze fall to Merlin’s mouth, but quickly looked back up when Merlin’s tongue poked out to wet his bottom lip. He gulped.

“Yeah?” Merlin asked.

Will tried to speak but his throat had gone dry and his voice stuck. Merlin’s lips parted and Will felt the little puff of his breath across his jaw.

“I –” He gulped again and cleared his throat. “I, uh…” He lost his nerve. “I’m kinda hungry… you wanna see what I grabbed?”

He pushed off of Merlin, sitting back on his heels and looking away, feeling heat spread up his neck.

Merlin blinked, then laughed, a little taken aback.

“Yeah, why not?” He sat up, pulling his knees up and draping his arms across them. He nudged Will with his foot. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Will lied, pulling a face and shrugging.

He stood up quickly to avoid Merlin’s inquisitive gaze, putting his hands on his hips and glaring out across the village. Merlin stuck his hand up in the air and waggled it until Will grabbed it and hauled him to his feet. He staggered, chuckling, and bumped his chest against Will’s.

“So what did you manage to get then?” he asked when Will playfully pushed him back again.

Will picked up the basket he had snagged from Old Man Simmonds’s yard while Merlin distracted the man with the logs, presenting it to Merlin like it was a great treasure chest.

Merlin lifted the cloth that was tucked over the top of the basket. Inside was a bottle of beer, an apple and a bread roll.

“Not too bad,” he said, snatching the apple and crunching a massive bite from it. A bit of juice dribbled down his chin and Will had to look away.

He took the beer bottle, pulling the cork stopper out with his teeth and taking a sip. He almost gagged at the bitter taste and Merlin laughed again.

Will’s stomach flipped. He told himself it was from the beer not from how happy Merlin’s laugh made him, and took another, larger swig.

“Don’t hog it all!” Merlin complained, pulling the bottle from Will’s hand and taking a gulp himself.

He spluttered half way through swallowing it and spat most of it out onto the grass. It was Will’s turn to laugh as he patted Merlin on the back.

“Urhg! That is horrible!”

He handed the bottle back and took another bite of his apple.

“You not going to share that?” Will asked, gesturing to the apple.

Merlin looked down at it, took another bite himself then held it up to Will’s mouth. Will blinked and looked up at Merlin. His blue eyes were fixed on Will’s and everything seemed to slow down. That same undeterminable expression was flickering behind Merlin’s gaze again, but Will still had no way of fathoming it out.

He opened his mouth, letting Merlin press the apple against his teeth, and took a bite. It was sweet and crisp. He chewed it thoughtfully, maintaining the eye contact with Merlin until he felt like his cheeks were going to burst into flame from the heat of his blush.

Merlin grinned.

Then blinked and looked away and the moment was gone. Will floundered slightly, trying to get his heartbeat to slow as he took a steadying breath. Merlin collapsed back down onto the grass, flinging his arms and legs out and closed his eyes.

The sun was falling across his face, shining in his mussed hair. Will’s heart ached and, unsure what else he could do, he took another long gulp of the horrible beer. And regretted it almost instantly as he doubled over coughing at the taste. He dropped to the ground as beside Merlin, retrieved the cork and pushed it back into the top of the bottle, tossing the bottle back into the basket.

“No more of that,” he said, chuckling weakly.

Instead he took out the bread roll, tearing it in half and dropping one half on Merlin’s face. His eyes flew open with a snort of laughter and before Will knew what as happening he was being pelted with crumbs as Merlin’s nimble fingers ripped the bread into tiny chunks and flicked them at him.

He put his hands up over his face to wards them off but eventually conceded and opened his mouth instead. Merlin cheered when Will caught one of the pieces of bread in his mouth and he munched it happily while Merlin clapped.

Merlin sat up and snatched the second half of the roll from Will, ripping it into chunks and holding them out between them so they could take it in turns to throw for each other to catch.

Will succeeded in catching several more pieces, but Merlin managed only one out of the fifteen or so Will threw.

“It’s your bad aim that’s stopping me catching them, you know,” Merlin insisted, then tossed the few remaining crumbs onto the grass a few feet away. He pursed his lips and made a birdcall sound, his face cracking into a smile when a robin hopped down and began pecking at them.

As he watched the robin, he rubbed his hands on his breeches, tilted his head to one side.

“Will?” he said quietly, still looking at the robin.

“Yeah?”

“What… the thing you were going to say earlier…” Will felt his heart rate kick up again, pounding in his chest. Merlin bit his lip then continued. “I think I know what you were going to say…”

Will’s throat had gone completely dry.

“You do?” he croaked.

Merlin turned to gaze at him. “I do.” He shuffled a little closer to Will, his hand reaching out and landing on Will’s knee. He opened his mouth to say something else but closed it before any words came out.

Will was frozen, the heat of Merlin’s hand on his knee searing though his breeches.

Suddenly, Merlin leant forwards. Their lips met.

Will took a sharp intake of breath and Merlin almost pulled back, but Will’s hand jumping to cup his cheek stopped him and Will felt him smiling against his lips. He pressed a little closer, his eyes falling shut as Merlin threaded his fingers into Will’s hair.

He ran his thumb up and down Merlin’s perfect cheekbone as he kissed him, relishing the softness of his skin, the warmth of his mouth. Merlin’s tongue slid along his bottom lip and he let his mouth open slightly.

Merlin tasted like apple, and strangely, something almost burnt, like a soft spark. He felt like that was the taste of the magic that flowed through his friend, the power, boiling beneath the surface ready to seep up into his eyes and his fingers at a moment’s notice. He felt drunk on it.

His other hand had made its way over to Merlin’s waist, gripping him tightly, afraid that if he let go this would all turn out to be just a dream.

But when Merlin pulled back, resting his forehead on Will’s and letting their noses bump together, it was still real.

“Was that kind of what you wanted to say?” Merlin whispered, his breath ghosting across Will’s wet lips like a hot summer breeze.

“I, uh… yeah,” he murmured, nodding so that his forehead rubbed against Merlin’s. “That was about it.”

“Very well said, I think.” Merlin giggled. He lifted his hand to play with the open collar of Will’s shirt, grinning at him. “You’re my best ever friend, Will.”

“And you mine, Merlin.” Will grinned back.

“Oh good.”

He pressed their lips together again, fervently drinking in each other as they kissed. Will pushed Merlin backwards, leaning over him again, his hands resting on the ground either side of Merlin’s head. Merlin’s hand in his hair kept Will close, only allowing him to move back a fraction of an inch to catch his breath before rejoining their lips.

His other hand was so warm, like when he’d done the magic earlier, flat against Will’s chest, his fingers stroking slow patterns in time with the way he moved his mouth.

It was everything Will had ever wanted, to have Merlin so close, under him, touching him, kissing him. His mind was whirling, not knowing whether to focus his attention on the soft press of Merlin’s lips on his or the gentle touch of Merlin’s fingers over his chest.

He smiled into the kiss, feeling Merlin return the smile until their teeth clinked together and they had to pull away, meeting each other’s eyes and laughing.


End file.
